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Did you know the Tucson Community Food Bank relies on about 120 employees?

It takes a lot more than employees to run a food bank!

Doug Ruopp was my guide at the food bank, and Cindy Montano assigned us into jobs.

My job was to put two boxes of raisins and a box of walnuts into a bag. Outside, Ruopp told me that the Community Food Bank helped people get their own gardens. They bring dirt, soil, seeds and even worms to get gardens started.

Photograph by John de Dios/Bear Essential News for Kids

Would you ever want to eat an insect? Now you can! On Sept. 18, several thousand people went to the Arizona Insect Festival hosted by the Department of Entomology (the study of insects) at the University of Arizona. The festival, which started in 2011, is held in September each year. There were sautéed mealworms and onions on a chip, cricket cookies and protein bars. It may sound gross, but my brother, dad and I tried them and they were actually very good.

Ruins of the Franciscan church at Mission San José de Tumacácori NPS Photo by Ed Wittenberg

Do you know what is special about September 17? Not only is it Constitution Day, which celebrates our Constitution signing but also the day that Tumacacori National Historical Park has it’s naturalization ceremony.

Want to go on a dream vacation loaded with LEGOs or have tea with your American Girl doll? My family and I went to California in August. We visited Legoland in Carlsbad and the American Girl Store in Los Angeles. I had the time of my life and it was the best summer “vacay” to date.

I went to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. It took 20 minutes by train to get there from London. The Royal Observatory is the location of the prime meridian. The prime meridian separates the eastern and western hemispheres of the earth. It is 0 degrees longitude. At the museum, there was a long gold line that separates the world in half and that’s the prime meridian. You can stand on the west side and east side of the world at the same time. It is an awesome feeling!!!

In April, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) held a celebration to raise awareness—Help a Horse Day. Rescues and sanctuaries across the nation hosted events to showcase the work they do and show the community how they can help.

Help a Horse Day exceeded expectations with 187 participating organizations, 107 applications, and over 40 states holding events between April 22–26. Over $1 million was donated by over 33,000 generous people.

Sean Miller, UofA men’s head basketball coach, gave a presentation about the upcoming 2016-2017 team on Aug. 27. It was during a private reception and lunch for valued partners of Hughes Federal Credit Union. Miller spoke about his new recruits and the upcoming schedule.

This summer I was selected to participate in a three-day summer program at West Point in New York. The campus is beautiful because of the architecture and how it was designed to look like a castle.

The program gives you a taste of what it is like to be a soldier at West Point because you stay the night in the barracks during the whole program. When you are at West Point you really feel like you are a solider by marching in formation and eating lunch in the mess hall.